November 24
1800s *1883 - The American Association agree to expand to 12 teams by admitting the Brooklyn Atlantics, Indianapolis Hoosiers, Toledo Blue Stockings and Washington Nationals. 1900 *1904 - San Francisco beats Oakland, 2–1 behind James Whalen (32–23). Whalen ends the game with two shutout innings starting a 47 consecutive shutout inning streak through next season. The Oaks scored their lone run in the seventh inning. San Francisco wins the nitecap, 3–0. 1910s *1911 - Future Hall of Famer Joe Medwick is born in Carteret, New Jersey. Medwick will make his major league debut in 1932 with the St. Louis Cardinals. *1913 - Joe Tinker is out as the Cincinnati Reds manager, but is still their property as a player. On December 12 he will be sold to the Brooklyn Superbas for $25,000, $10,000 of which goes to him. Pitcher Earl Yingling and outfielder Herbie Moran are sent to Cincinnati later as part of the deal. When Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets puts off signing Tinker, he jumps to the Federal League, signing to manage the Chicago Whales for $12,000. 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s *1953 - The Brooklyn Dodgers sign the relatively unknown Walter Alston to a one-year pact as their manager for 1954. Alston, who had served as the skipper of the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Montreal, replaces Chuck Dressen after Pee Wee Reese turns down the job. Alston will manage the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers over the next 23 seasons, winning 2,040 games and four World Championships. 1960s *1964 - St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Ken Boyer, who hit .295 with 24 home runs and 119 RBI, is selected as the National League Most Valuable Player. Boyer outdistances Johnny Callison and Bill White for the honor. *1969 - Dave Bristol is named manager of the Seattle Pilots. 1970s *1971 - Catcher-infielder Earl Williams, who hit 33 home runs and 87 RBI for the Atlanta Braves, wins the National League Rookie of the Year honors. Williams gets 18 of 24 votes, with the others going to Willie Montañez of the Philadelphia Phillies. *1972 - The New York Yankees acquire veteran Matty Alou from the Oakland Athletics for Rob Gardner and Rich McKinley. It is the second time the Yankees have traded Gardner to the Athletics for an Alou. Last year it was Felipe Alou. *1973 - Pitcher Bob Gibson wins the last of his nine Gold Gloves, and Joe Morgan wins the first of his five at second base. *1975 - Gene Mauch signs a three-year contract to manage the Minnesota Twins, replacing Frank Quilici. *1976: **Joe Morgan outpoints Cincinnati Reds teammate George Foster to win his second straight National League MVP Award. Morgan hit .320 with 27 home runs, 111 RBI, 113 runs, 60 stolen bases, and led the NL in slugging percentage (.576) and OPS (1.020). Foster finished with 29 home runs and led the league in RBI (121). **Bob Kennedy is named head of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs. His first move is to inform Jim Marshall he is fired as manager and Salty Saltwell, after a year as general manager, is named secretary and director of park operations. Herman Franks, briefly a Cubs coach under Leo Durocher, will be named the new manager. Ironically, Durocher turned down an offer to manage the Cubs for the 1977 season. **The California Angels sign free agent second baseman Bobby Grich. He becomes the first of three free agents that owner Gene Autry will sign during the off-season. Don Baylor and Joe Rudi will eventually join Grich in California. *1977 - Former major league manager Mayo Smith dies at the age of 62. Smith skippered the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers during a nine-year managerial career, but gained most of his fame when he guided the Tigers to the 1968 World Championship. Smith later scouted for the Oakland Athletics. 1980s *1982 - Cal Ripken, Jr., who hit .264 with 28 home runs as a shortstop and third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, is named American League Rookie of the Year. His consecutive game streak is in its infancy at 118 games. *1986: **The Minnesota Twins announce interim manager Tom Kelly will be the club's skipper next season. Kelly, who replaced Ray Miller at the end of the season, will compile a losing record (1140-1244) but wins two World Championships during his 16-year tenure as the Twins manager. **In yet another unwise trade of prospects for aging veterans, the Yankees deal pitchers Brian Fisher, Doug Drabek and Logan Easley to the Pirates for pitchers Rick Rhoden, Cecilio Guante and Pat Clements. Drabek will win the National League Cy Young Award in 1990. **St. Louis Cardinals reliever Todd Worrell, who led the National League with 36 saves, is named Rookie of the Year. Worrell had helped St. Louis to the 1985 World Series as a late-season call-up but was still a rookie the next season as defined by the BBWAA. 1990s *1993 **The Texas Rangers sign free agent P Rick Honeycutt. **Atlanta Braves P Pete Smith is traded to the New York Mets in exchange for OF Dave Gallagher. *1997 - Tim Johnson is hired as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. He succeeds Cito Gaston, who was fired in September after having led the Blue Jays to World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. Johnson, a former bench coach with the Expos and Red Sox, managed the Triple-A Iowa Cubs in 1997, and beat out three others for the job: Buck Martinez, Larry Bowa, and American League Manager of the Year Davey Johnson, who interviewed in Toronto after leaving the Orioles. *1998: **The Cleveland Indians sign free agent 2B Roberto Alomar to a four-year contract. Alomar joins his brother, Sandy Jr. **San Diego Padres 1B Wally Joyner undergoes corrective eye surgery to bring his eyesight up to 20/20. His eye sight had deteriorated to 20/3000. 2000s *2000 - Staying with his hometown New York Mets, John Franco signs a nearly $11 million three-year pact as a set-up man foregoing an opportunity with the Philadelphia Phillies to pick up 59 saves to break Lee Smith's career saves record of 478. *2002 - The Phillies, in an effort to fill void created when Scott Rolen was traded to the Cardinals last July, sign third baseman David Bell to a four-year, $17 million free-agent deal. Bell, who's father (Buddy) and grandfather (Gus) were also major leaguers, played for the National League champion Giants last season after being traded by the Mariners during the spring. *2004 - After guiding the Dodgers to their first title since 1995, the club signs manager Jim Tracy to a two-year extension. Tracy, who has had four consecutive winning seasons with the Dodgers, will resign before the 2006 season to manage the Pittsburgh Pirates. *2005 - On Thanksgiving evening, the Boston Red Sox officially announced the acquisition of a potential ace in right-hander pitcher Josh Beckett from the Florida Marlins. Boston also added third baseman Mike Lowell and right-handed reliever Guillermo Mota in the deal while sending minor league prospects shortstop Hanley Ramírez and right-handed pitchers Aníbal Sánchez, Jesús Delgado and Harvey García to the Marlins. Births *1889 - George Burns, outfielder (d. 1966) *1904 - Billy Rogell, infielder (d. 2003) *1909 - Tom Winsett, outfielder (d. 1987) *1911 - Joe Medwick, Hall of Fame outfielder (d. 1975) *1923 - Danny Ozark, manager *1930 - Bob Friend, All-Star pitcher *1939 - Jim Northrup, outfielder *1948 - Steve Yeager, catcher *1962 - Randy Velarde, infielder *1967 - Al Martin, outfielder *1967 - Ben McDonald, pitcher *1967 - Cal Eldred, pitcher *1968 - Dave Hansen, infielder *1976 - Mike Edwards, infielder/outfielder *1976 - Damian Moss, pitcher *1919 - Horacio Ramírez, pitcher *1983 - José López, infielder Deaths *1931 - Fred Lake, player and manager (b. 1866) *1942 - Frank Owen, pitcher (b. 1879) *1970 - Ivy Andrews, pitcher (b. 1907) *1977 - Mayo Smith, player and manager (b. 1915) *1987 - Jim Russell, outfielder (b. 1918) *1991 - Carl Sawatski, catcher (b. 1927) *2003 - Warren Spahn, Hall of Fame pitcher (b. 1921)